Palm Sunday – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: Numbers 21:4-9

In Christ Jesus, whose saving work was foretold by the prophets and depicted among the peoples at many times and in many ways, dear fellow redeemed:

If you had to guess what verse in the Bible is the most popular one, you would probably say John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” It is an awesome verse. It clearly states that we are saved from our sin and death by faith in the Son of God. But did you know that the context leading up to this verse includes a reference to the bronze serpent that Moses made?

John 3:14-15 says, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” Then the famous passage follows. By this reference to today’s account from Numbers 21, our Lord is teaching us how to read the Old Testament. We read the Old Testament not just for historical purposes and not just for lessons about what we should and should not do. We read the Old Testament as a book about God keeping His promises, including His chief promise to send a Savior for sinners.

We certainly find sinners in today’s reading. Once again, the Israelites became impatient. Once again, they grumbled and complained. They took God’s gifts for granted and wished they could go back to Egypt where they recalled being so happy and healthy. It is obvious the devil had “pulled the wool over their eyes.” The people needed to be brought out of their spiritual sleep. They needed to be reminded who the LORD was and what He was doing for them.

But being made aware of our wickedness and weakness is not a pleasant experience. It certainly wasn’t for the Israelites. The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people. We don’t know exactly what made the serpents “fiery.” Perhaps it was their appearance. Perhaps it was the type of pain people felt when they were bitten. It was a terrifying experience that claimed the lives of many people.

It also woke the people up. They came to Moses in humility and repentance, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that He take away the serpents from us.” They realized their sin the hard way. Instead of trusting God and obeying His will, they broke His holy Law and faced the consequences.

We can also think of many times that we learned about sin “the hard way.” We decided to do what we knew was wrong. We thought we could get away with it, or we thought it was worth the risk, but that sin came back to bite us hard. Some sins have temporary consequences, but other sins have deeper consequences that can last our entire life and negatively impact others even after we are gone.

The sin we have inherited from Adam is like the bite of a poisonous serpent. The poison works its way further and further in, and if no treatment is applied, it leads to death. The Book of James outlines the progression of sin: “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (Jam. 1:14-15). This is not just about physical death which touches all people. This is about eternal death in hell which is received by all who remain in their sin and refuse to repent.

It was a gift from God that the people afflicted by the fiery serpents repented. Not everyone feels sorry for sin. Many boast how there is nothing about their life they would change. “I did it my way,” they say, as though that is something admirable. So we see that God was mercifully leading the Israelites out of their sin and unbelief and back to Him in faith. They went to God’s servant Moses, admitted their wrong, and begged him to intercede for them. Moses prayed to the LORD, and the LORD listened to his prayer. He said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.”

Now this seems a little odd. Why would God tell Moses to put on a pole an image of the very animal that was killing them? And how could the lifeless image of a serpent save the people from the bite of actual serpents? This was a test of faith. The power to save the people was not in a piece of metal on a pole. The power to save the people was in the promise God attached to the image. He said, “and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” Would the people trust God’s Word now?

We are faced with a similar test when we look at God’s Sacraments. Many people—even many Christians—reject the Sacraments as external things, as empty rituals, that have no real effect on our faith. They say it is little more than getting water splashed on you, than eating bread and drinking wine. We receive no benefit if we look at the Sacraments in this way and just go through the motions because we feel like we should. But if we listen to what our Lord says about them, if we recognize that the power of the Sacraments is in His Word, and we trust the promise He attaches to these visible means, then we receive great benefit.

The Israelites may have tried to apply medicinal remedies of their own making to their family members and friends who had been bitten. Maybe they tried to chase the snakes away. But their efforts all failed. People kept dying. They could not save themselves. Only God could rescue them. He directed Moses to lift up the bronze serpent on a pole, and the people who trusted His promise were spared. “[I]f a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.”

So when the devil with his temptations slithers toward you, when sin sinks its fangs into you, when its poison works its way through you, what can you do? You can’t save yourself. You don’t have the power to neutralize your sins or keep their poison from spreading. You can’t heal the wounds inflicted by your sin or outrun the consequences of what you have done. There is only one remedy, only one antidote for sin—“as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (Joh. 3:14).

The Son of Man, Jesus Christ, had to be lifted up. It was absolutely necessary. The antidote for sin’s poison had to come from God to us. He sent healing and salvation to us by giving His Son to suffer and die in our place. That is our focus in this holiest of weeks beginning with our Lord’s humble entry into Jerusalem.

He was welcomed as a king on Palm Sunday, but the true nature of His kingdom would not be clear until He was wearing a crown of thorns on Friday. His throne was not covered in gold. It was splattered in the holy blood that oozed from His wounds. His throne was that rough, wooden cross that lifted Him up for all eyes to see. Many looked at Him in unbelief; they ridiculed and blasphemed Him.

Even for them, Jesus willingly suffered. Even for you. He carried your sins to the cross. He felt their painful bite and their burning poison. He did not grumble or complain. He did not ask His Father why He sent Him from heaven to die in the wilderness of the world. He accepted the punishing wrath of God and endured the eternal torments of hell, so you would not die but live.

Sin filled you with death, but Jesus fills you with life. He counteracts the effects of all your sins, including the ones that caused deep wounds and piercing pain in you and others. By giving up His holy life in payment for sin, He won forgiveness and salvation for you. He brings the fruits of His victory to you right now through His Word and Sacraments. Through these means, He imparts the medicine of life. You hear His promises spoken to you, you eat His body and drink His blood with faith in what He says, and His power works through you to heal, comfort, and strengthen you.

Whether you feel healthy and strong in your spiritual life or under attack and weak, you keep your eyes always on the Son of Man who was lifted up to save you. If you tried to measure your faith by how well you are doing or how much you have accomplished, you would be applying the Law as a remedy to your sinfulness. But the Law cannot save you. One of our great Lutheran hymns puts it well:

The law reveals the guilt of sin,
And makes men conscience-stricken;
The gospel then doth enter in,
The sin-sick soul to quicken.
Come to the cross, loop up and live!
The law no peace to thee doth give,
Nor can its deeds bring comfort. (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #227, v. 9)

You look to Jesus for comfort. His Father sent Him to fulfill the promise of the ages by suffering and dying in your place. Like the whole creation that eagerly waits for the blossoming and new life of spring, the entire Old Testament anticipates the coming of the Savior. Jesus said to the Jews, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (Joh. 5:39).

The bronze serpent on a pole was a picture of what Jesus would do on the cross. Like the Israelites who looked up with faith in the LORD’s promise, you also by faith Come to the Cross, Look Up and Live! In Jesus, you have life for today, life for this Holy Week, and life forevermore. Thanks be to God. Amen.

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(picture from “Crucifixion, Seen from the Cross,” by James Tissot, c. 1890)